Mumbai: The six jail officials accused of killing Byculla Women’s Prison inmate Manjula Shette plotted to attack her because she did not obey their orders, says the 990-page Mumbai Crime Branch charge sheet filed before a magistrate court, a copy of which is with The Hindu .
The plot became larger after Shette died, and the accused carefully destroyed the evidence, it says.
Shette was allegedly assaulted by prison officials Manisha Pokharkar, Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne on June 23. The six are now in judicial custody.
When Crime Branch officers inspected the jail for evidence, they found remains of burnt articles like books, diaries, registers, bedsheets, clothes, the green and yellow saree Shette wore, and some wood, the charge sheet says. Thus, the accused have also been charged with destruction of evidence.
Contradicting reports
The Crime Branch is thus left with little or negligible material evidence to show the culpability of the accused in assaulting Shette. Surprisingly, the Crime Branch has claimed that the jail officials had plotted to assault Shette because of complaints from fellow inmates that she gave them broken eggs, less time to meet relatives and made them give her massages.
This is in stark contrast to the statement given by Mariam Shaikh, a key witness and complainant in the case, based on which an FIR was registered at the Nagpada police station. Shaikh had told the police that Shette had complained to the jail officials after two eggs and five pieces of bread went missing from the rations allotted to her barrack, which triggered the assault on her.
The other contradicting reports are the inquest panchnama and the post mortem reports.
The inquest panchnama conducted by an executive magistrate says there were no visible injuries on Shette’s body, but the post mortem report from JJ Hospital says she had 17 contusions on her legs, thighs, face, skull and elsewhere on her body.
Witnesses in agreement
Witnesses like Ranjana Rathod have corroborated the statement given by Shaikh, and said that two hours after Shette was assaulted, a magistrate had visited the prison. But the magistrate did not visit the barrack or ask the inmates about the incident. Other inmates have said the same.
The charge sheet says the trouble started around 9 a.m. on June 23, when Shette found that the rations fell short. When she raised her concerns, she was called to jail officer Manisha Pokharkar’s private room. Witnesses heard Shette scream in pain, and she returned to the barrack in pain. Witnesses said the accused then came to the barrack and assaulted Shette. She was stripped by women constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne, as per Shaikh’s statement.
Shaikh said Naikade and Gulve then held Shette’s legs apart and Waseema Shaikh inserted a lathi into her private parts. While the post mortem report doesn’t confirm Shette being sexually assaulted, it says her undergarments were bloodstained. Shette was left bleeding in the barrack, and no help was offered by the jail authorities, Shaikh said. It was only after she fell unconscious in the bathroom that she was taken to the resident doctor in the jail, who immediately asked for her to be transferred to JJ Hospital. She died at the hospital.
Rathod said that Pokherkar had threatened all inmates not to mention the incident to anyone, or they would meet the same fate. She said that since Pokherkar took charge, she had differences with Shette and had threatened her with dire consequences.
Rathod and other inmates said Pokherkar used to favour two inmates, Amruta Mathew and Varsha Nayar. The two had made a false complaint against Shette, which is why she was beaten, the inmates said.
Fazleen Shaikh, another inmate, said that she was assaulted by the same group of guards two months before Shette’s death.
